From editor-in-chief of The Daily Tar Heel to foreign correspondent living in Beirut, Thanassis Cambanis returned to his roots Monday.
Cambanis, who graduated in 1996, is a distinguished journalist with expertise in Middle Eastern and U.S. foreign policy.
Cambanis now writes the “Internationalist Column” for The Boston Globe, is a contributor to The New York Times and an adjunct professor at Columbia University.
He also wrote “A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel,” and is working on another book.
Cambanis accepted the General Alumni Association’s Distinguished Young Alumni Award Friday for his accomplishments.
During his visit, Cambanis, a Chapel Hill native, took a trip back to what he called “the test tube” — The Daily Tar Heel, what he said was the only local paper that mattered.
“My first through 20th journalism jobs were at the DTH,” Cambanis said.
“It’s great to come back home and in context think about the work I’ve done as a foreign correspondent,” he said.
Cambanis said he is only able to come back every two or three years, and he thinks it’s striking how deeply people in Chapel Hill care about events in the Middle East.